Trolley-conductor insulator



. April 28, 1925. 1,535,133

s. s. MATTHES TR OL LEY CONDUCTOR, INSULATOR Filed Nov. 28, 19,25

I Chroma! of approximately five hundred volts. ldevice, however, can be used equally as well Patented Apr. 28, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL S. MATTHES, 0F MANSFIELD, OHIO, ASSIG-ZN'OB. TO THE OHIO BRASS COM- IPANY, OF. M ANSFIELD,OHIO, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

.TROLLEY-CONDUCTOR INSULATOR. Application filed November 28, 1923. Serial No. 677,432.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, SAM EL S. MATTHns, citizen of the United States of America, residing at Mansfield, in thecounty of Richland and Stateof Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trolley-Conductor Insulators, of which the fol lowing is a specification.

My invention relates to insulators and. has

particularreference to that class of insulators used in connecting electric trolley lines wherein it is desiredto sectionalize the trolley wire or conductor.

,One object of my invention is to provide a device to be inserted between adjacent ends of the interrupted trolley conductonto 11 1- sulate'and maintain the adjacent sections in insulated relation.

Another object of my inventlon 1s to provide a device which can be operated over by ,either'the wheel type of current collector or the sliding bowtype of current collector,

sometimes called a pantograph collector.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a device in which all arcing 1s eliminated when a sliding. type of current collector passesunder the device.

Still another object oi my invention isto provide a device for insulating adjacent sec- ,tions of a trolley conductor in which unusually high voltage is used, such as a thousand volts or more as agamst an ordlnary Voltage My on the lowervoltage aswell as the higher voltage. j

My invention has particular advantages for use on such systems as are regularly operated. with the sliding type of current collector and which may occasionally be operated over by carsusing the wheel type of current collector for the reasonsset forth in the third object above.

As there is a considerable bending moment placed on a device of this character and as this bending moment is greatest at the center otthe device, I have interlocked some of the parts so that if the device should breakor become badly ruptured at a point approximating thecenter, that the device will still be maintained with its parts in suflicient relation to prevent a complete separation and the separated parts falling to the ground. j s

In the drawing accompanying my invention:.- j j I Fig. 1 is a top plan view of one embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 2 is the sideview in elevation of Fig. 1.

s Fig. 3 is a sectional view of Fig. 2 taken on the center line 3-3 of Fig. 2. p

In the construction of the device disclosed in the drawing, member 1 preferably made of wood as it is easily formed to shape, is strong, durable and inexpensive although other suitable materials such as fiber, etchmay be used. To each end of the member 1 is secured an end member 2 having spaced clevis members 3 between which is positioned the end of the member 1 and secured thereto by the through known and usually comprises a cylindrical,

recess to receive theend oi the cable 8 and set screw to hold the end of the cable 8 in place. The lower face of each end member 2 is provided with a downwardly and longi- I employ the insulating tudinally projecting rib 9 so arranged that it forms a continuation of the conductor 6 and provides a track for the wheel or sliding collector in passing from the conductor on to the device. Between the inner ends of the members 9, in line with thesame and secured to the member 1, is a rib 10 of insulating material such as wood, fiber, porcelain etc. which acts as a means of transfer of the wheel collector in passing across the break between the members 9 and is usually of the same cross section as the member 9.

Secured to the insulating member 1, and on each opposite side and laterally spaced therefrom member 11 of metal. The guide member 11 may be of the same material and cross section as the member 6 or it may be of other material, preferably metal however, and of other cross section. Each guide member is secured to the member 1 by supports comprising a through bolt 12 upon which is secured anauxiliary insulator 18. Secured to the auxiliary member 13 is a clamping member 14: provided at its upper part with means for engaging the insulating member 13 and and in parallel relation, is a guide to provide a better insulating medium between the guide members. I find this advisable as it permits me to cut down the length of the device when used with the higher voltages, as the auxiliary insulating members 18, when composed of porcelain, moulded composition etc., offers higher insulating value between the parts.

The lower face of the guide members 11 is somewhat lower than the lower edge of the member 10 and the ends of the members 11 are turned upwardly to permit a sliding current collector of the bow type to pass from the end member on to the adjacent guide member without jar. As the bow collector passes on to the guide member 11, it is depressed below the lower edge of the member 10 and therefore does not cause any wear upon this member. The outer end of each guide member 11 overlaps the inner end of its adjacent member 9 and the members 11 overlaps each other for a considerable distance of their total length, therefore a bow trolley shortly after engaging one of the members 11 will also engage the other member 11 in its passage across the break.

until it has practically reached the opposite end of the break when it will pass on to the member 9.

In order to prevent arcing as the bow collector passes across the break, I connect the outer end of each guide member 11 to its adjacent end member 2 by means of the conductor 8 which is fastened to the end member 2 by the means 7 and to the clamping member 14: by the means 15, which is similar to the means 7.

It will be seen that, while the bow collector engages the two guide members 11, that the bow will be receiving current from both sections of the trolley wire and that the sections will be connected electrically during the short period of time that the bow collector is passing across the break but that the sections are insulated from each other at all times. As the diiterence of potential between the members 11 is very small, excepting under very infrequent occasions, there will be practically no arcing as the bow passes over the break.

As the tension strain upon the device in a longitudinal direction is at the lower edge of the member 1, the tendency is for the beam to be bent and in time rupture. The greatest bending moment is about the line 3-3 in Fig. 2. By having the inner members 12 interlocked, I find that if there is a liability of the member 1 breaking, that the interlocking with the members 12 tends to reduce this liability and will also tend to prevent the parts entirely separating if the member 1 should break.

There are many modifications to the pre ferred form of my invention herein disclosed which will be evident to those skilled in the art, therefore I do not wish to be limited to the particular structure shown other than by my claims.

I claim- 1. A section insulator comprising in combination, an insulating member, an end member secured to each end of the insulator member, a pair of laterally spaced guide bars in insulated relation and having their inner ends overlapping and to be engaged simultaneously by a current collector, air i11- sulation separating said guide bars from each other and from the insulating member and means to secure said guide bars in said relation, each guide bar being electrically connected to one of the end members.

2. A section insulator comprising in combination, an insulating member, an end member secured to each end of the insulating member, a pair of laterally spaced, air insulated and overlapping guide bars, one of which is electrically connected to one of the end members and auxiliary insulating members secured to the insulating member and interposed between the insulating member and the guide bars and to which the guide bars are secured.

8. A section insulator comprising in combination, an insulating member, an end member secured to each end of the insulating member, a pair of laterally spaced and overlapping guide bars mounted on the in sulating member in insulated relation and auxiliary insulating members having a higher specific resistance than the insulating member and secured thereto and means to secure the guide members to their respective auxiliary insulating members and each of the end members connected to a guide member.

4. A section insulator comprising in combination, a single insulating member, an end member secured to each end of the insulating member to receive and hold in fixed'and insulated relation the adjacent ends of an interrupted trolley conductor, laterally spaced parallel, overlapping and insulated guide bars secured to the insulated member at alternating points in a longitudinal straight line and electrically connected to the end members as and for the purpose described.

5. A section insulator comprising in combination, a single insulating member, an end member secured to each end of the insulating member and adapted to receive the ad jacent interrupted ends of a trolley conductor, a pair of parallel and insulated guide members secured to the insulating member and laterally spaced therefrom, one end of each guide member extending beyond the inner end of an end member and secured to the insulating member adjacent to said end member and the other end of each guide member extending beyond the center of the insulating member in the direction of and to a point intermediate of the inner end of tween the guide membersand the insulating member, means to secure the auxiliary insulating members to the lnsulatlng member and means to detachably engage the guide members and the auxiliary insulatingmembers to secure the guide members to their respective auxiliary insulating members.

7. A section insulator comprising in combination, an insulating member and an end member secured to eachend of the insulating member to receive and hold in fixed and insulated relation the adjacent ends of an interrupted trolley conductor, a pair of guide bars disposed on opposite sides of the insulating member and spaced therefrom and insulated from each other, and means formed by and between said bars to act as guides for the current collector in passing over the break between the end members.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature SAMUEL s. MATTHES. 

